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Guide To British Travel, Culture & HistoryMon, 30 Mar 2015 20:17:53 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1The British Heritage Puzzlerhttp://britishheritage.com/the-british-heritage-puzzler-3/
http://britishheritage.com/the-british-heritage-puzzler-3/#commentsSun, 01 Mar 2015 00:00:00 +0000http://britishheritage.com/?p=13692744Tips and tidbits for travel and for fun LAST ISSUE WE INVITED Puzzler players to ponder: “Almost everywhere in Britain you see signposts indicating the mileage to London, but the capital is a huge city. From what location in central London is distance to the capital measured?” Distances to London are measured to Charing Cross. [...]

LAST ISSUE WE INVITED Puzzler players to ponder: “Almost everywhere in Britain you see signposts indicating the mileage to London, but the capital is a huge city. From what location in central London is distance to the capital measured?”
Distances to London are measured to Charing Cross. That is the center point for distance to London from anywhere in the world. Marking the last resting place of the body of Eleanor of Castile before its arrival at Westminster Abbey, and the last of the 13 Eleanor Crosses erected by King Edward III to commemorate the funeral journey, Charing Cross became a familiar and easily recognizable landmark linking Westminster and the City.

Now, you might cogitate on this enigmatic Puzzler: “I have guarded England for 1,000 years, and done so very effectively. Though my practical uses changed over the centuries, my strategic position has guaranteed my significant role in English history.”

Keeping in Touch

WE ARE ALWAYS DELIGHTED to hear from British Heritage readers—and occasionally to pass along the enthusiasms and travel tips you share. We would love to hear if you’ve used British Heritage in planning your own adventures in Britain. We can always be reached at Editor@BritishHeritage.com.

Coming up in British Heritage

Join the Pudding Club

Magna Carta at 800

Wetherspoons’ Pubs for All Seasons

Margate’s Dreamland Come to Life

Nearby Chiswick: A World Away

Celebrating in the Vale of Evesham

Dame Agatha And Sir Basil

Dame Agatha was always extremely solicitous for all God’s woodland creatures. After much fuming, she put in an appearance at the District Council meeting, demanding that they remove the signs saying “Deer Crossing” from Sir Basil’s and her road. Too many deer were getting killed, and Dame Agatha didn’t want them crossing there anymore.

Among My Souvenirs

THE FIRST TIME I WENT TO THE UK, I wanted to purchase a souvenir that was a piece of British history, since that is one of my interests. On my many trips, I have since collected many old coins. Those pictured here include an Elizabeth I, James I, and an ancient Celtic tribal coin from the area of Stonehenge.

C.J. Moore
Iowa City, IA

Highlight Events on the Calendar

CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW, MAY 19-23

The annual Royal Horticultural Society’s floral extravaganza is Britain’s most celebrated gardening event, held on the grounds of Chelsea Royal Hospital. The Queen gets a private viewing, but crowds are fierce. It’s worth joining the RHS to go on member’s day.www.rhs.org.uk

GREAT BRITISH BEER FESTIVAL, AUG. 11-15
London Olympia Exhibition Centre in Kensington hosts this celebration of real ale. Folk that take their beverage seriously mass to study, discuss and imbibe. They gather at brewery bars by such venerable names in beer as Fullers, Brains, shepherd Neame and st. Austell. Need we say more.www.gbbf.org.ok

LUDLOW FOOD FESTIVAL, SEPT.11-13
Lie thee to Shropshire for what has become perhaps the most famous foodie gathering in the country. Some 180 vendors spill out from Ludlow Castle amidst demonstrations, classes, tastings and competitions—including a famous sausage trail through town.www.foodfestival.co.uk

PORTHCAWL ELVIS FESTIVAL, SEPT. 25-27
And now for something completely Elvis. Thousands of fans, many dressed as The King himself, descend upon seaside Porthcawl near Cardiff. Elvis tribute acts and more than 100 Elvis-themed shows. There’s even a “festival fringe” at 20 venues across town.www.elvies.co.uk

Tidbits From the Post

Thank you for your beautiful magazine! This longtime subscriber just finished reading the March issue and loved every bit of it. From Dancing at Blackpool, to the Highland Games, the Mayflower Trail, the Sceptered Isle and beyond—so informative and interesting. Beautiful photos, too. Please don’t change your “style,” as so many other magazines have done. You’re wonderful just the way you are.Janet Litherland BarnesThomasville, Ga.

Ah…an article on the hedges of England! In 2005 we spent a week in Heytesbury and the surrounding area. How I loved the varied hedges, and wondered if there was a book ever written on them. Thank you!Mary Margaret Van DammeRome, New York

]]>http://britishheritage.com/the-british-heritage-puzzler-3/feed/0The Year of Celebration: 10 Historic Anniversaries in 2015http://britishheritage.com/the-year-of-celebration-10-historic-anniversaries-in-2015/
http://britishheritage.com/the-year-of-celebration-10-historic-anniversaries-in-2015/#commentsSun, 01 Mar 2015 00:00:00 +0000http://britishheritage.com/?p=13692743ENGLISH HERITAGE and the historic properties they steward across the country are commemorating throughout the year 10 significant historic anniversaries in 2015. In your travels to Britain this year, you may well cross paths with some of the many sites planning exhibitions and reenactments associated with these unforgettable events. For these stories, and many more, [...]

ENGLISH HERITAGE and the historic properties they steward across the country are commemorating throughout the year 10 significant historic anniversaries in 2015. In your travels to Britain this year, you may well cross paths with some of the many sites planning exhibitions and reenactments associated with these unforgettable events. For these stories, and many more, visit: www.english-heritage.org.uk.

The First English Parliament

(750th) – January 20, 1265

DURING CIVIL WAR against King Henry III in 1265, Simon de Montfort, the Earl of Leicester, summoned an elected assembly from across England to a meeting of “the commons.” Both knights and boroughs were represented at what has long been considered the first true English Parliament. It was the Second Barons’ war —a conflict over the overweening authority of the King that followed from the Magna Carta rebellion 50 years earlier. De Montfort was killed at the Battle of Evesham that autumn by forces loyal to the King. Catch the story as well in Lewes, where the barons were victorious in battle, and at Kenilworth Castle, scene of the longest siege in English history.

Death of Sir Winston Churchill

(50th) – January 24, 1965

IT HAS BEEN 50 YEARS since the death of wartime leader and statesman Sir Winston Churchill. After a mammoth state funeral in Westminster abbey, the route of Churchill’s cortege to the family grave in the Bladon village church near his Blenheim Palace birthplace, Oxfordshire, was lined with tens of thousands paying their respects. Today, visitors can pay their respects at both sites or visit at many places across Britain associated with the great man, including his long-time home Chartwell, Kent, and the Cabinet war rooms in Whitehall.

VE Day

(70th) – May 8, 1945

SEVENTY YEARS HAVE PASSED since the Allies celebrated victory in Europe. Though war continued in the Pacific, the defeat of Hitler’s Nazi Germany sparked street parties and jubilation across Britain. World War II history sites and war memorials spread across the island. 1940s era reenactments are taking place at English Heritage sites throughout the country, including Dover Castle and Wrest Park. For the broad story of WWII, visit Eden camp in Yorkshire, naval Portsmouth, the Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede or the great Imperial War Museum airfield and air museum in Duxford, Cambridgeshire.

Dunkirk Evacuation

(75th) – May 27-June 4, 1940

THE “MIRACLE OF DUNKIRK,” one of Britain’s most famous World War II triumphs, saw thousands of allied soldiers evacuated from the beaches of France after being trapped by Hitler’s blitzkrieg. It was the heroic action of the private “little ships” rescuing soldiers that captured the world’s attention, and thwarted what could have been catastrophic defeat. Codenamed Operation Dynamo, the evacuation was directed from the Secret Wartime Tunnels beneath Dover Castle. Visitors can explore the living quarters, operations rooms and hidden wartime hospital.

Magna Carta

(800th) – June 15, 1215

KING JOHN PUT HIS SEAL to the Magna Carta, or Great Charter, under duress 800 years ago. Magna Carta is renowned today as one of the cornerstones of British law and representative democracy. Sealed at Runnymede, Surrey, surviving copies of Magna Carta are on display at the British Library and the chapter house of Salisbury Cathedral. The last copy, Lincoln Cathedral’s, was on display at Washington’s Library of Congress this winter, and returns to a new exhibition building at Lincoln Castle this spring.

Battle of Waterloo

(200th) – June 18, 1815

JUNE 18 MARKS 200 YEARS since the Battle of Waterloo. Among the most famous commanders in English history, the Duke of Wellington led a coalition army into victory against the French forces of Napoleon on a Belgian battlefield. English Heritage commemorates the bicentenary with exhibitions at Apsley House, the London residence given to Wellington by a grateful nation, and nearby Wellington Arch. At Walmer Castle, Kent, where the Duke spent his last years, the rooms present the personal side of the Duke and his legacy. See also, “Wellington and Waterloo after 200 years,” in British Heritage, March, p.34.

Invasion of England by Viking Cnut

(1000th) – summer of 1015

REMARKABLY, KING CNUT was among the most successful kings of Anglo-Saxon England. In 1015, Cnut landed an invasion force on the Wessex coast and began a triumphant campaign for the English throne. After victory, Cnut brought a reign of prosperity and peace after more than 200 years of Saxon/Viking warfare. Across the North of England and East Anglia, the region of the Danelaw, evidences of Viking settlement are widespread. Nowhere is this more celebrated than in the city of York, the Viking trading port of “Jorvik.” It’s a great time to visit the Jorvik Viking Centre on Coppergate.

Siege of Carlisle

(700th) – summer of 1315

ROBERT THE BRUCE’S Scottish victory at the Battle of Bannockburn left northern England vulnerable to Scottish raids. Perhaps the most famous of these happened 700 years ago in Cumbria. Invading Scottish forces laid siege to Carlisle Castle—the most besieged castle in England. This time the Scots failed despite using siege towers and scaling the walls in a savage fight. English Heritage plans a dramatic reenactment of the siege of Carlisle this summer with assorted activities to take place at the castle.

Battle of Agincourt

(600th) – October 15, 1415

AGAINST THE AGE-OLD ENEMY, France, a badly out-numbered army of knights and archers won one of England’s most famous victories. On the muddy field of Agincourt, much of French nobility was destroyed under the inspiring leadership of King Henry V. William Shakespeare’s intense Henry V has never let us forget it. Though the battlefield is French, the invasion was English. Putatively, the campaign began with a gift of tennis balls deemed to be insulting from the French to Henry V at Kenilworth Castle. English Heritage will mark the anniversary at Portchester Castle, Hampshire, where Henry’s invasion force gathered.

World War I

(100th) – 1915
WHEN WAR BROKE OUT in August, 1914, early optimism led many to expect that British troops would be home for Christmas. It didn’t work out that way, and 1915 saw soldiers digging in for what would become years of trench warfare. A century ago now, the year included the first Zeppelin attacks on England, chemical warfare introduced, and the tragic failure of the Gallipoli invasion. English Heritage sites of the home front include Pendennis Castle in Cornwall, and wrest Park, Bedfordshire, the first of many country houses (such as Downton abbey’s Highclere Castle) to be seconded as war hospitals.

DVD

Final cases, and final curtain
“THE TIME HAS COME, MON AMI, TO SAY GOOD-BYE.” For a generation now, David Suchet has portrayed the Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, of mystery writer agatha christie. we have come to love the brilliant, quirky little man with the mincing walk. Suchet’s portrayal of Poirot has defined the character so long and so well that it is difficult to imagine another actor attempting to take the part.

In Poirot’s final cases, he reconnects with his and our old friends Miss Lemon, Inspector Japp and Captain Hastings.

It is, unquestionably, the end of an era. With the production and release of Poirot, Series 13 there are no more tales to tell. So popular was the fastidious Poirot that Christie returned to him again and again, until even Poirot reached his own end. David Suchet has now completed 70 episodes in the role — the entire canon of Christie’s Poirot novels and short stories. And all good things come to their natural end.
Poirot has been older, and more alone, in his last few series, moving slower than he used to, less self-righteous and more willing to second-guess himself. He has become a senior citizen. The famous “little gray cells” draw on his years of experience and memory, but his heart has gotten tired and weak.
The last five episodes see the return of his (and our) old associates and friends—Miss Lemon, Inspector Japp, Ariadne Oliver and the simple Captain Hastings. It is all very familiar and loveable.
Poirot’s final episode, Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case brings the detective full circle, as he and Captain Hastings return to Styles, the scene of his first appearance in The Strange affair at Styles. A present murder harks back across the years to a long closed case, and Poirot unfailingly unwraps and unpacks the mystery. and then, Poirot takes to his bed, tidies up all the loose ends, and breathes his last.
We will always have these great productions of Suchet’s Poirot, but there will never be more. Of course, the new Series 13 will be a great addition to any collection. For those who would like the full story (a collection in itself), Acorn has also released Agatha Christie’s Poirot: Complete Cases Collection, which includes all 70 episodes in original UK broadcast order. The mammoth 33-disc Collector’s Edition is available for $349.99.

]]>http://britishheritage.com/the-year-of-celebration-10-historic-anniversaries-in-2015/feed/0Stoned in Gloucesterhttp://britishheritage.com/stoned-in-gloucester/
http://britishheritage.com/stoned-in-gloucester/#commentsSun, 01 Mar 2015 00:00:00 +0000http://britishheritage.com/?p=13692742Why an ancient craft remains in demand “Gloucester Cathedral is looking for a Senior Stonemason. 39 hours a week. Reporting to the Master Mason at the Cathedral.” NO, THIS WAS NOT a 13th-century job opportunity, but a recent online advert. Finding the best craftsmen to create and carve stonework for England’s great cathedrals is still [...]

Gloucester Cathedral’s cloisters are an oasis of quiet in a busy city.

“Gloucester Cathedral is looking for a Senior Stonemason. 39 hours a week. Reporting to the Master Mason at the Cathedral.”

NO, THIS WAS NOT a 13th-century job opportunity, but a recent online advert. Finding the best craftsmen to create and carve stonework for England’s great cathedrals is still as important as it was 10 centuries ago. Lying just west of the Cotswolds, let’s visit Gloucestershire, home of two buildings inspired by religious dedication and a passion for creating from stone.
Pascal Mychalysin, the master mason at Gloucester Cathedral for nearly 25 years, talks animatedly about what he looks for in a good stonemason: “We are the custodians. Our job is to prepare the next generation of talent.” Pascal looks for three things in a mason: “One—a good brain, two—a good pair of hands, and three—a good pair of hands.” He also looks for “a good affinity with the material.” Such “affinity” is behind all the great English cathedrals, producing both the strength of pillars and buttresses and the delicacy of finely carved angels.

Pascal Mychalysin, Master Mason at Gloucester, stands beside one of his creation.

Originally a Benedictine monastery, Gloucester Cathedral was was the site of both the 1216 coronation of Henry III and Edward II’s funeral in 1327. His imposing, intricate tomb lies in the north ambulatory. Two centuries later, when Henry VIII’s roving eye strayed to Anne Boleyn, leading to the dissolution of English monasteries, the abbey soon surrendered to King Henry VIII, and was refounded as a cathedral. Gloucester Cathedral is a tribute to centuries of architectural achievement, from vast Norman columns in the nave to later ornate sections such as the grand tower, visible from miles away across city and countryside.
“At Gloucester, you have a raw contact with the people who really started the building,” explains Mychalysin. Some generations made mistakes; a second set of arches in the crypt had to be built to support the first set that failed. Elsewhere, the mediaeval masons reached great heights of invention and beauty. Fan-vaulting, the technique used to create the beautifully intricate ceiling above Gloucester’s famous cloisters, is said to have been invented here in the 1350s. The cloisters and walled garden are a peaceful retreat next to the pomp and circumstance of the cathedral.

Every piece of stonework visible throughout the medieval cathedral, its cloisters and corridors was hand-carved by a skilled craftsman.

The stonemason’s role now is to create both the invisible and the visible. In the cathedral’s south aisle, stones have been extracted from the sides of the stained glass windows to be repaired and replaced seamlessly. In contrast, set high and proud on the roof outside, 13 new gargoyles greet arriving visitors.
The gargoyles alone represent 10 years’ work for the 21st-century masons, and depict the creatures of the earth praising the Lord based on Psalm 148. “It is perfectly appropriate for each generation to add something to the building,” says Mychalysin. Each gargoyle including the wolf, the baby salamander and the young maiden are all his designs. A full-size, three-feet-high clay model is created and then painstakingly recreated in stone by the team of masons. The gargoyle then takes its place among the decorative work of centuries past.
The cathedral’s workshop is open to the public just once a year. Tools have changed little since medieval times: mallets, hammers and chisels of all sizes. Apart from an electric grinder, nearly everything is carved, dressed and set by hand. Architectural drawings of an entire side of the cathedral show ancient stones highlighted in modern yellow marker.
Throughout the year, masons can be seen around the cathedral, on scaffolding thankfully up to modern standards. Ask a guide to show you their latest achievements in this glorious building.
Just 10 minutes’ drive from Gloucester Cathedral in a secluded Cotswold valley is another building inspired by faith and a passion for stone carving.
Woodchester Mansion is, from a distance, simply a grand house made from the local honey-colored limestone. Yet all is not as it seems. Step inside, and back in time to 1873; the year everything changed. This was the year when, halfway through the creation of this ambitious home and chapel, all work was abandoned.
Look up through three floors with stone buttresses and Gothic arches leading nowhere. A fireplace is finely carved with ivy leaves on one side only. Victorian ladders and masons’ chisels are all left as if the workforce downed their tools for tea. Details everywhere show work having been started, but never completed. Look out for Albert Tilley’s initials carved on a beam. He was a young plasterer who worked on the mansion before immigrating to Chicago.
Woodchester Mansion is now open to the public as an unfinished Gothic masterpiece—saved, but deliberately never to be completed. Today, masons work solely to preserve the house. “Unfinished” does not mean an excavation site though. The house exterior is complete; you are fully protected from the elements and access all floors by restored staircases. Walk through the dining room, the chapel, with all the architectural features laid out before you. There is even a tearoom that is thankfully complete and open for business. Access to the house is by free shuttle bus from the car park just over a mile away.

So what happened at Woodchester? “It was never really abandoned,” says Alan Ford, trustee and guide. “The Leigh family always wanted to finish it.”
Born in 1802, William Leigh was a devout Catholic convert and wanted to establish a Catholic community with his substantial inheritance. He built a church and monastery in the area with additional grand plans for a family home, also to be part of his community, with rooms for visiting priests, a substantial chapel and a cloistered garden.
Leigh embraced the Gothic style for the mansion, with the Gothic archway seen as pointing the way to heaven. Locally-born architect, Benjamin Bucknall, responsible for most of the house’s design, also loved working with stone to the point of obsession—guttering and fall pipes are not usually hand-carved from stone. The tiled roof of the bell tower is, in fact, a carved solid block. In the bathroom, the never-to-be-used shower heads are also stone, carved into fantastic leopard heads. Many of the decorative carvings are of “cathedral standard.”
Building eventually came to a standstill due to a lack of funds, a series of family tragedies and Leigh’s own ill-health. The only permanent residents to have lived in the house are two colonies of Greater and Lesser Horseshoe bats in the roof. These rare species have been studied at the house for more than 50 years. Temporary visitors to the area have included American and Canadian troops positioned nearby to prepare for D-Day. The old bell tower clock they used for target practice is still in the house.
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Despite never having housed the religious community that Leigh wanted, the building has a light, lofty feel not unlike the space at Gloucester Cathedral. The grand carved structure, three stories high, with no rich Victorian furnishings to absorb the sunlight, is a place of calm to linger and reflect.
In addition, the empty house, originally designed for a family, has succeeded in bringing together people with passion and a common purpose. A local trust, with local resident HRH Prince Charles as patron, now runs and maintains the house with many volunteers.
For today’s stone mason apprentices, Woodchester offers a great hands-on opportunity. Masonry students from Bath College do such tasks as carefully removing large stones for repair, under the watchful eye of tutor, Jonny Anderson, whose own career has included work on Westminster abbey. After spending five years to qualify, this new generation of stone masons could be making their own mark at Gloucester Cathedral.

A U.S. Connection at Gloucester?
A U.S. flag donated by the Rotary Club of New York celebrates the life of John Stafford Smith (1750–1836). Smith was a cathedral choirboy, who composed the music that became the American national anthem.

PLACES TO STAY

The Bear at Rodborough
Set High above the Costwolds on Rodborough Common, The Bear at Rodborough offers beautiful accommodation in an old coaching inn. Choose cozy bar areas or a restaurant with large views across the common where “commoner’s cattle” graze in the summer.
The Bear of Rodborough Hotel, Rodborough Common, Gloucestershirewww.cotswold-inns-hotels.co.ukStonehouse Court
Equidistant between Gloucester Cathedral and Woodchester Mansion, Stonehouse Court is a 17th-century manor house set in 6 acres of grounds. Take tea in the oak-panelled lounge or try your hand at croquet on the lawn. Stonehouse Court Hotel, Stonehouse, Stroud www.stonehousecourt.co.uk

In a bucolic lowland setting, Dryburgh Abbey is considered by many to be the prettiest of the quartet.

… they would certainly have some remarkable stories to tell. Built as centers of learning and piety during the 12th century, the four principal abbeys of the Scottish Borders—Dryburgh, Jedburgh, Kelso and Melrose—were also intended to impress visitors from England, showing that the Scots were capable of fine building projects.

The Abbeys were founded by several religious orders, often with the patronage of King David I of Scotland. Building on such a scale was a costly business, and such was the amount of money David spent on religious houses that he was known as “the sair (sore) saint.”
The abbey churches, the focal point of each abbey, were cruciform. At the east end was the presbytery, which included the high altar, dedicated to a particular saint. On either side of the presbytery, the transepts form the arms of the cross, while the nave, the stem of the cross, was where lay people worshipped.
The layouts of the ancillary buildings vary from abbey to abbey, but the way of life in each was remarkably similar. At the center of any abbey complex was the cloister, an open area with a covered walkway around it, surrounded by imposing buildings. The cloister was used as a processional route by the canons during important services, and the open space was used for reading, writing and contemplation.
Much of routine life revolved around daily worship, but abbey life was generally spartan. Only the warming room was heated, for instance, where the monks or canons were allowed a brief respite from the cold before they returned to work. At Dryburgh, the daily routine started at 1 a.m. and finished at 8 p.m. This involved celebrating Mass and regular prayers, both private and for the abbey’s founder, relatives and other benefactors, while the remaining time was spent in the cloister. They survived on two frugal meals a day.
All too often, the abbeys found themselves at the center of unwanted attention, particularly during the Wars of Independence and other periods when tensions were high between England and Scotland. Although all of the abbeys were attacked, Dryburgh suffered worst following King Edward II’s unsuccessful invasion of 1322. English troops, hearing the bells rung in celebration of victory, were said to have gone out of their way to take revenge.
There were regular cross border intrusions by both sides after the Wars of Independence, but some of the greatest damage to the abbeys occurred during the period known as “the rough wooing,” when Henry VIII of England tried to “encourage” the Scots to marry Princess Mary to his son Edward.
The Scottish Reformation in 1560 saw the abbeys go into terminal decline. Generally, the canons were allowed to continue living in the buildings, although many joined the reformed church. As a way of life, however, the abbeys were finished and when the canons died out, so effectively did the abbeys. By 1580 only four canons remained at Dryburgh and by 1600 it was noted “all the convent thairoff now deceissit.” Following the Reformation, Jedburgh, Melrose and Kelso abbeys continued as parish churches before the ravages of time finally overcame them and replacement buildings were erected.

Dryburgh Abbey’s Premonstratension order choose a rural location for contemplation and prayer.

Though little remains of Kelso Abbey, what survives is a testament to its status and infuence.

Despite the passage of almost 1,000 years, enough of these beautiful abbeys remain to give visitors an appreciation for the craftsmanship, styles of architecture and quality of the original buildings, and to follow the lifestyle of the inhabitants.
First of the four abbeys, Kelso was founded by David before he ascended the throne in 1124. Initially based near Selkirk, the Tironsian monks later moved to Kelso, possibly because David had a favorite royal residence at nearby Roxburgh. It became one of the largest and wealthiest religious houses. Unfortunately little remains today, although what does survive is testament to the building’s quality. James III was crowned at Kelso after his father’s death by a bursting cannon during the siege of Roxburgh in 1460.

The surviving walls of Kelso Abbey sit within gardens in Kelso, largest of the Borders market towns.

Melrose Abbey, founded 1136, was another of Scotland’s wealthiest religious houses. There had been a settlement of Celtic monks at Old Melrose, some 2 miles east of the present site, possibly as early as 650. At the invitation of David I, the Cistercians set up an abbey there, and later moved to the present site.

Though Jedburgh Abbey’s nave is roofess, it remains the most complete of the Border abbeys.

The second abbot of Melrose, David’s stepson Waltheof, was renowned for performing miracles, and when his tomb was opened in 1170 and again 1206, his body was found to be intact. In 1240 some small bones were removed as relics and remains of his shrine are on display in the commendator’s house.

Melrose Abbey’s serenity belies the pretty market town just at its gates.

Melrose Abbey has a close connection with the Wars of Independence—as the site where King Robert the Bruce’s heart is buried. The body of Bruce, who died in 1329, was buried in Dunfermline Abbey. After having been taken on a Crusade to fulfill a vow the Bruce made, however, his heart was buried here in 1331. A lead canister in the area formerly occupied by the chapter house reputedly contains the Bruce’s heart, but in keeping with his status, more likely it would have been buried beneath the main altar—as King Alexander II was after his death in 1249.
Founded by Augustinians in 1138, the Jedburgh abbey church is one of the most complete in Britain. King Alexander III married Yolande de Dreux here in 1285. A ghostly figure is said to have appeared during the service, a portent of the king’s death. His death the following year sparked the succession crisis that encouraged Edward I of England to interfere in Scottish affairs, and led to the Wars of Independence.
Dryburgh Abbey, perhaps the most attractive abbey, was a Premonstratensian community founded around 1150, although much of what survives today dates from the 13th century. It never had the wealth or influence of its sister abbeys, but its location, away from any of the centers of population, mean that even today it captures the calm and spiritual element of medieval religious life.
The almost-intact north transept houses the graves of novelist Sir Walter Scott and Field Marshall Earl Douglas Haig, a still controversial World War I leader. Other well-preserved parts of the Abbey include the parlor, chapter house and warming room.
The Premonstratensians were a silent order; the parlor was the only part of the abbey where conversation was permitted. Next door was the chapter house, where the canons met each day to receive their instructions and to confess their misdemeanors. Discipline was extremely strict and offences could include hoarding personal possessions.
Punishments generally involved beatings, fasting or being excluded from communal activities. While we know something of the abbey’s senior figures, we know little of the canons—other than a Brother Marcus, who was suspended in 1320 for punching the abbot. Sadly, we don’t know what caused the disagreement and as ever, the stones aren’t saying!

Eerie in the mist, Melrose Abbey’s cemetery was filled many centuries after the Cistercians were forgotten.

Down the night stairs, silent monks fled to sing the offices of dark hours.

After almost a millennium, the stone arches of Melrose still stand.

For information regarding the Border

Abbeys, including opening times, see www.historic-scotland.gov.uk.
Traveling by car from Edinburgh, take the A720 south and then the A68. From Glasgow take M8 towards Edinburgh and the A720.
A direct bus service is available from both Glasgow and Edinburgh to Melrose. Wonderfully, the railway is being rebuilt and a service is expected to be available sometime in 2015.

]]>http://britishheritage.com/king-davids-border-abbeys/feed/0Honors Due A King: The Reburial of Richard IIIhttp://britishheritage.com/honors-due-a-king-the-reburial-of-richard-iii/
http://britishheritage.com/honors-due-a-king-the-reburial-of-richard-iii/#commentsSun, 01 Mar 2015 00:00:00 +0000http://britishheritage.com/?p=13692739It's the greatest archaeological discovery of the modern age. Lost for over half a millennium, the remains of Richard III are finally being laid to rest.

Dignitaries of church and state gather for the ceremonial interment of the last Plantagenet king.

England’s last Plantagenet king is finally to be laid to rest after 530 years. The only monarch since the Norman Conquest not to be buried in a royal tomb, King Richard III is at last to be interred with the full panoply of royal honors in Leicester Cathedral. For five centuries, his human remains lay unmarked, unnoticed and forgotten only yards across the cathedral yard under what was a civic parking lot.British Heritage readers have been following the story with me since the remarkable discovery of Richard III’s bones by a University of Leicester Archaeological team in August 2012 (“Discovery: The Bones of Richard III,” p. 24, July 2013). The next spring we went up to North Yorkshire to tell the back-story of this controversial and much-maligned monarchy in his home base as Lord of the North (“Richard III in Yorkshire,” p. 24, November 2013).
Now, after two years of research on the skeletal remains and much wrangling over the location of their final destination, an impressive royal tomb has been prepared in Leicester Cathedral. With pomp and circumstance to fill a week’s itinerary, the unfortunate king will be reburied in a service and ceremony at the cathedral on March 26th.
Leicester is ready. Originally a Roman settlement, Leicester evolved over the centuries from medieval county town to working class industrial center. It gained city status and a cathedral in the early 20th century. Today Leicester is a multi-cultural metropolis of 330,000 known for the diversity of its population and eight commonly-spoken languages. Leicester’s ethnic communities have united in pride and enthusiasm at the city’s newfound celebrity and the fame garnered by its university.
Since my first visit to interview the University of Leicester team who made the discovery of Richard’s bones two years ago, the central city precincts surrounding Leicester Cathedral have been transformed with civic work in preparation for King Richard’s reburial and for the expected food of visitors from around the world to follow.

The new Richard III Centre unpacks all the controversy that has whirled around King Richard’s life and reign.

Center stage in Leicester’s urban renewal is the new Richard III Visitor Centre. Just across the beautifully landscaped pedestrian square from Leicester Cathedral, the center is brightly conceived and beautifully presented, recounting the story of Richard III’s life and death as well as the fate of his remains and their serendipitous, unlikely discovery and identification. All this leads to the starring gallery—built around and over the grave where Richard’s bones lay.

The story of Richard III hardly needs telling, of course. Finding the body of King Richard III goes down as one of the great archaeological discovery stories of all time. In addition, their identification solves one of the great mysteries of British history. The attention this story has received in the media and the public interest it has generated are well-deserved.
Philippa Langley and the Richard III Society that championed the dig deserve their bows as well. Richard Buckley, lead archaeologist on the project was given an OBE, and celebrity has come also to osteologist Jo Appleby and geneticist Turi King who dusted off and identified the skeleton as the last yorkist king. All those involved in the project will have front-row seats at the events and services consigning Richard to his long-awaited royal tomb.
Events begin Sunday March 22nd, when Richard III’s mortal remains will make their final journey. The cortege will route from the University of Leicester to the site of Richard’s death on the battlefield.

The blue dots on Richard’s armor show where he received body wounds during his death struggle.

Next, it visits the village churches at Sutton Cheney, where Richard heard his final mass, and Dadlington, where battle-dead are buried in the churchyard. at the Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre, the Bishop of Leicester will conduct a short service. Finally, the cortege will wend through Market Bosworth and back to Leicester.
At Bow Bridge, the Lord Mayor and civic dignitaries will greet the procession. The King’s coffin will be transferred to a horse-drawn hearse for a solemn journey through the city to the cathedral. There, the body will be formally handed over from the University of Leicester to the Church. At a Service of Compline to follow, the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols will preach the sermon.

The statue of Leicester’s favorite king has been relocated from the park to the cathedral garden.

For the next three days, King Richard will lie in the cathedral, when the public are invited to pay their respects to the historic monarch. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby will preside at the service of Reinterment on Thursday March 26th, when the King’s coffin will be placed in its tomb. at a service of reveal the next day, the sealed tomb will be ceremonially revealed to the public.

The church at Sutton Cheney contains several memorials to the unhappy king.

With demand for places at the three cathedral services far exceeding the Cathedral’s 600-seat capacity, 200 tickets for each were allocated to the public by lottery. Media coverage of the historic events will reflect the worldwide interest King Richard III has created after all these centuries.
Finally, Richard III will rest in his royal tomb in Leicester Cathedral; the media, dignitaries and crowds of the late King’s fans will depart. Life in the city will almost return to normal. Leicester has a sparkling new center-city district. It also has what the tired east Midlands city lacked—a major new tourist attraction.
The benefits to Leicester will be ongoing, and much appreciated by its people. How ironic that the reviled monarch whose battle-hacked body was so unceremoniously dumped and ultimately forgotten in Leicester should in the end convey such bounty to the city.
While the buzz surrounding King Richard III inevitably declines, the controversies over his character, his reign and, most dramatically, his imputed complicity in the famed, unsolved murder in the Tower of the young princes (sons of his brother, King Edward IV) remain. Richard’s notoriety and celebrity will not be forgotten. The lynchpin of his reputation lies in that greatest of English murder mysteries.
Will it ever be solved? Thus far, despite many theories and arguments, the mysterious disappearance of Princes Edward (King Edward V) and Richard has evaded resolution. Historians concur that it may never be a closed case. Until then, Richard of york may have an appropriate royal tomb, but is not likely to rest in peace.

Visiting Leicester

By train, it takes just over an hour with frequent service from London St. Pancras.
By car, allow closer to two hours drive from London. Take the M1 north to Junction 21, then follow the A5460 into the city center.

]]>http://britishheritage.com/honors-due-a-king-the-reburial-of-richard-iii/feed/0The Amazing London of Samuel Pepyshttp://britishheritage.com/the-amazing-london-of-samuel-pepys/
http://britishheritage.com/the-amazing-london-of-samuel-pepys/#commentsSun, 01 Mar 2015 00:00:00 +0000http://britishheritage.com/?p=13692738For four decades the gadabout diarist reported the City’s epic events Thousands lived through the English Civil War, plague, invasion threats and the Great Fire of London. None wrote about them like Samuel Pepys, naval administrator, MP and bon viveur. His London was a medieval city on the cusp of modernity, full of wooden buildings [...]

Samuel Pepys keeps watch over his memorial garden near where he lived on Seething Lane.

Thousands lived through the English Civil War, plague, invasion threats and the Great Fire of London. None wrote about them like Samuel Pepys, naval administrator, MP and bon viveur. His London was a medieval city on the cusp of modernity, full of wooden buildings and stinking alleyways straining toward something new. Pepys’ diaries, 1660-69, are an intoxicating combination of the current affairs and his current affairs, told with the honesty of a man who never expected anyone else to read them.

Pepys had this bust of his wife Elizabeth erected in their parish church of St. Olaves, so she could watch him in church.

Born on February 23, 1633 in Salisbury Court behind Fleet Street, Pepys was baptized at St. Brides. The crypt of Christopher Wren’s prettiest post-fire church (reputedly the inspiration for the modern wedding cake) houses the remains of no fewer than six previous incarnations.
Even as a child Pepys had to “be there,” sneaking off from school to witness the beheading of King Charles I on January 30, 1649. He retained a lifelong horror of executions, yet as a true reporter, felt it his duty to witness them.

13th October, 1660: ”Out to Charing Cross to see Major-General Harrison hanged, drawn, and quartered; which was done there, he looking as cheerful as any man could do in that condition.”

After studying at Cambridge, Pepys married 14-year-old Elizabeth St. Michel in 1655 at St Margaret’s, in Westminster Abbey’s shadow. Elizabeth and Sam loved each other passionately but their relationship was stormy. His jealousy was unfounded; hers was not. Betty Lane, her sister Doll, the actress Mrs. Knipp, Pepys’ supplier Bagwell’s wife (unnamed) and any number of shop girls, tavern-wenches and servants caught his lustful eye. After each dalliance, Sam returned full of remorse and bearing some costly bauble, only fuelling Elizabeth’s suspicions.1st Jan, 1661 ”Blessed be God, at the end of the last year I was in very good health, without any sense of my old pain … I live in Axe Yard, having my wife and servant Jane, and no more in family than us three.

Axe Yard was just south of present day Downing Street in Westminster. It was a run-down area, but for a man with ambition, a necessary evil. Pepys’ “old pain” was a bladder stone he’d undergone risky surgery to remove. He kept the stone in a jar and drank to it once a year.

St. Brides’ Church, where Pepys was baptized, is considered Sir Christopher Wren’s prettiest parish church.

From the bell tower of All Hallows by the Tower, Samuel Pepys watched the progress of the Great Fire in September 1666.

The Olde Cock Tavern was rebuilt in 1888, but retains many of its original features that would have been familiar to Pepys.

Parliamentary rule didn’t last much longer than its father, Oliver Cromwell, and the exiled Prince Charles was invited to return to England as King. In May 1660, Pepys leaped at the opportunity to accompany Sir Edward Montagu to the Netherlands to collect the prince. Naturally, he attended the coronation in Westminster Abbey, though it was a long, drawn out affair.

23rd April, 1661 “I had so great a lust to pisse, that I went out a little while before the King had done all his ceremonies.”

Westminster Hall, where Pepys witnessed the coronation banquet, is still used for grand dinners. Inside, it remains much the same, including an exquisite, 900-year-old hammer beamed roof.

Court life centered around Whitehall. Under the extraordinary rubens ceiling at Banqueting House, infamously the setting for the former king’s execution, Sam would tittle-tattle, hob-nob, brown-nose and, of course, ogle the girls:23 August, 1662 “My Lady Castlemaine stood over against us upon a piece of White Hall, where I glutted myself with looking on her…”

Pepys was offered Clerk of the Acts to the Navy Board, a house in Seething Lane, a stone’s throw from the Tower of London, and £350 a year. He and Elizabeth loved Seething Lane, constantly updating and renovating. The house no longer exists, but a small garden dedicated to Pepys remains.
However successful Samuel Pepys was professionally, we remember him as a carouser. He went to the theater no fewer than 351 times. He liked Ben Johnson, hated Shakespeare (except Macbeth) and loved the actresses. It is Pepys who described orange-seller-made-good Nell Gwyn as “pretty, witty Nell.” Today only Drury Lane’s Theatre royal can lay a claim to Pepys. The current building dates to 1812, but the site has the oldest continuous use as a theatre building.8th May 1663 “The house is made with extraordinary good contrivance, and yet hath some faults, as the narrowness of the passages in and out of the Pitt.”
Sam drank at what seems to be every tavern in town. one of his favorites, the Cock on Fleet Street, was rebuilt in 1888, but its gilded cockerel and fireplace would be familiar to Pepys if he had ever diverted his attention to furnishings.29th April 1668 “…to the Cock Alehouse, and drank, and ate a lobster, and sang, and mightily merry”
17 Fleet Street remains much as Pepys would have known it. In his day it was the Fountain, built in 1610.28th November 1661 “…to the Fountain tavern and there staid till twelve at night drinking and singing”
Sadly, although the first floor houses a Pepys museum, it has been closed for years.
The 1520 Prospect of Whitby near Tower Bridge was known as the Devil’s Tavern in Sam’s day. He didn’t mind its dubious reputation. He probably added to it.
Pepys regularly visited the navy’s shipyards in Deptford and Woolwich. The most reliable way to travel was by water, and any number of stairs down to the river survives. The boatmen cheeked and even feeced him, so he would cross London’s only bridge and walk, rejoicing in the nightingales of Greenwich Park and singing to himself along the way.

The Theatre Royal Drury Lane is the only London theater left from Samuel Pepys era.

7th June, 1665 “I did in Drury-Lane see two or three houses marked with a red cross upon the doors and ”Lord have mercy upon us’ writ there—which was a sad sight to me.”
Samuel and Elizabeth moved to Kent to avoid the plague. Queen’s House at Greenwich, home to an offcial portrait of Pepys, also holds a charming view of Greenwich with Sam and Elizabeth in the foreground. In the midst of the plague’s horrors Pepys’s spirits turned to the trivial:7th June 1665 “…it is a wonder what will be the fashion as to periwigs, for nobody will dare to buy any haire for fear of the infection.”
The couple moved back to Seething Lane, but worse was to come.September 2nd, 1666 “Jane called up about three in the morning to tell us of a great fire they saw in the City… I thought it far enough off and so went to bed again.”
This was no ordinary blaze however. Sam and Elizabeth watched from a boat as the town burned.

“A most horrid malicious bloody fame, not like the fine fame of an ordinary fire … It made me weep to see it.”

“Fire drops” stinging their faces, they retreated to “a little ale house” on the south bank. rebuilt in 1676, The Anchor is a fascinating maze of passageways, odd rooms, fireplaces and creaking foorboards.
September 2nd continues with the proudest moment in the diary:“So I was called for, and did tell the King and Duke of Yorke what I saw, and that unless his Majesty did command houses to be pulled down nothing could stop the fire.”
On Pepys’ advice, Charles ordered great tranches of medieval London demolished. By moonlight, Samuel and his friend Admiral Penn (father of William, founder of Pennsylvania) dug a hole in the garden, buried their best wine and, famously, Pepys’ parmesan cheese. They then climbed the tower of All Hallows by the Tower, today topped with a copper finial, and watched Armageddon approach.
In 1669 Pepys’ beloved Elizabeth died. Inconsolable, Samuel had a marble bust installed in “our own church,” St. olaves, sited so that she would look down on him in his pew, beside her memorial in the nave. In 1703, he joined her.“…and so to bed.”

EXPLORING PEPYS’ LONDON

A new major exhibition, Samuel Pepys: Plague, Fire and Revolution, runs at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich between November 20, 2015 and March 28, 2016.

]]>http://britishheritage.com/the-amazing-london-of-samuel-pepys/feed/0Brass Bands: Soundtrack of Summerhttp://britishheritage.com/brass-bands-soundtrack-of-summer/
http://britishheritage.com/brass-bands-soundtrack-of-summer/#commentsSun, 01 Mar 2015 00:00:00 +0000http://britishheritage.com/?p=13692736Though County Durham’s coal mines are closed, the Durham Miner’s Gala thrives—because of its brass band spectacle. The tiny village square is packed to capacity. A church clock strikes two, and is quickly succeeded by the approaching notes of a military march. Soon a band appears, snaking its way through the square to a center [...]

Though County Durham’s coal mines are closed, the Durham Miner’s Gala thrives—because of its brass band spectacle.

The tiny village square is packed to capacity. A church clock strikes two, and is quickly succeeded by the approaching notes of a military march. Soon a band appears, snaking its way through the square to a center stage. Braided uniforms and shining instruments bob into view between the crowds. This is the annual St. Keverne Ox Roast in Cornwall, where mingled with the scent of a spit-turned BBQ ox, and a fluttering of bunting come the traditional sounds of a British summer.
Musicians of all ages play in British brass bands. Although it’s an activity steeped in tradition, brass bands are still very much alive, according to Rachel Veitch-Straw of Brass Band England. “In England alone, there are around 2,000 active brass bands, practicing every week, taking part in competitions, and most importantly, performing up and down the country.”
Cornwall is a brass band hotspot, born of the fact that the now picturesque county was once an industrial hub, with disused quarries and tin mines that still litter the landscape. Although players today are a diverse lot, this was not always the case. In the 19th century, bands were often established by employers, eager to keep their workers busy with music rather than union business.
For that reason, industrial Yorkshire, Durham and Lancashire have the country’s biggest concentration of brass bands. Veitch-Straw is herself principal cornet player with Rocking-ham Band in Barnsley, deep in brass’s heartland. Although less well known than the neighboring Grimethorpe Colliery Band, whose players provided the soundtrack and inspiration for the hit movie Brassed Off, Veitch-Straw affirms that her band plays a central part in the community.
With so many brass bands, where should a committed fan or curious visitor go to hear the best selection? Veitch-Straw has suggestions. “If you want to gorge on the sound of brass bands, there are three fantastic events you can visit during the summer, which also happen to have historic and picturesque backdrops.” She advises beginning with the Saddleworth and District Whit Marches in May.

Rachel Veitch-Straw of Brass Band England blows a mean cornet for Rockingham Band.

Held since 1884, the marches are a series of contests that attract up to 100 bands. Enthusiasts describe it as “the greatest free show on earth.” The open-air contests are played at in scattered moorland villages and towns huddled under the western edge of the Pennines. Against that stunning backdrop, the variety of bands and colorful uniforms make a dazzling display. Musicians march and blow their way around some 20 different venues along the twisting Pennine roads.
“Aficionados all have their favorite Whit location,” says Veitch-Straw, “but I particularly recommend Dobcross, a stunning village high in the Pennines, where the bands play on a green surrounded by ancient stone houses.” That such small settlements host performances evidences that there are thriving bands even in the tiniest villages—bands that play alongside the more famous bands at events like the Whit Marches.
An event with an older pedigree is the Durham Miner’s Gala, held annually on the second Saturday in July in the historic cathedral city. The first was held in 1871, and although there are no longer any deep mines in County Durham, the gala remains firmly rooted in the region’s industrial heritage. The day’s activities are a mixture of political speech-making, accompanied by the brass bands’ music.
Last year organizers reckon that more than a 100,000 people marched behind 65 brass bands from the cathedral to the city’s race course. With the music, the march includes some 150 silk banners—huge, vivid rectangles held aloft by marchers and carrying socialist, communist or Christian themes. While the politics may not be to everyone’s taste, the spectacle and music does not fail to move.
When the coal mines hummed with activity, marchers would drape banners in black to mark deaths underground during the previous year. Black cloths still appear on significant pit disaster anniversaries. In recent years, residents of former pit villages have restored old banners and or even created new ones.
By rights the Durham Miner’s Gala should be a waning institution, or even consigned to the history books. But, says Veitch-Straw, it is far from dying. “I think it’s partly the brass bands and their supporters which keep the Gala going from strength to strength. Brass bands carry the traditions of the North’s industrial past and keep them alive.”

One of four performance venues at the northern Cotswolds’ annual Pershore Midsummer Brass Festival is the soaring Norman nave of Pershore Abbey.

Veitch-Straw’s final recommendation is in the northern Cot-wolds, at Pershore’s Midsummer Brass Festival. A little more sedate and less competitive than its northern counterparts, Per-shore attracts dozens of brass bands from the Midlands and South Wales. Performances take place in four venues, one of which is the magnificent Pershore Abbey—one of England’s finest examples of Norman architecture.
Another beautiful venue is the riverside garden of the Angel Inn. The pub’s Tudor origins and pastoral outdoor setting are a perfect location, too, to sample the area’s real ales and local ciders. Veitch-Straw concedes that some bandsmen and women love this venue for the chance to slake their thirst after playing heavy brass instruments on a warm summer’s day. “Playing can be thirsty work. You might be in full dress uniform, with a heavy jacket and necktie, holding a hefty piece of brass, and blowing with all your might. A pint of beer or cider can be the perfect reward for having displayed such stamina!”
Veitch-Straw is keen to point out some distinctions between British brass bands and their American marching band cousins: “You won’t find any woodwind instruments or saxophones over here,” she explains. “Nor will you find French horns or sousaphones. The biggest instrument we play is a B-fat bass.” She also clarifes why bands call themselves brass or silver: “They’re basically the same—all brass under the skin. It used to be traditional, particular in Methodist areas, to play with silver-coated instruments, and often the term‘silver’ would denote a wealthier band. Nowadays though, prices are the same, but the original names have stuck.”
As for the music you’ll hear, well these days it’s an eclectic mix. In days gone by bands concentrated on hymns and marches. Indeed, the tradition of starting every rehearsal with a warm-up hymn still holds. Nowadays, though, audiences can enjoy arrangements from popular musicals, film scores and even pop music, as well as the older, traditional tunes. There is something for everyone on the summer soundtrack.
The Whit Marches are always held on Whit Friday; this year it is May 29. Visit www.whitfriday.brassbands.saddleworth.org to find a map of the route and list of bands you might hear.
Durham Miner’s Gala will be held on July 11, 2015. Visit www.durhamminers.org to find out about this year’s guest speakers and where best to see and hear the color and music.
Pershore’s Midsummer Brass Festival will be held on July 4, 2015. For an up to date list of participating bands, visit www.pershoremidsummerbrass.org.uk.
In Cornwall, St. Keverne Ox Roast is always held on the first Wednesday of August. This year it will be August 5. The band strikes up at 2 p.m., and the day ends with a torchlit procession at 9 p.m.

]]>http://britishheritage.com/brass-bands-soundtrack-of-summer/feed/0Around Town with Sandra Lawrencehttp://britishheritage.com/churchills-lair-elvis-and-the-cutty-sark/
http://britishheritage.com/churchills-lair-elvis-and-the-cutty-sark/#commentsSun, 01 Mar 2015 00:00:00 +0000http://britishheritage.com/?p=13692734Sandra descends into Churchill’s War Rooms, admires Elvis’s sartorial style and indulges at a pub fit for a king. More of London’s can’t-miss attractions for your next visit.

A favorite with Greenwich locals, the Cutty Sark has been an alehouse since 1695.

IF YOU GO TO A BIRTHDAY PARTY where you don’t know the person, eat two pieces of their cake and drink their gin, is it gatecrashing?
While the rest of the world was popping champagne corks and waving fags for VE Day 70 years ago, a small group of troglodytes crawled out of a bunker, blinking into the daylight. Their war hadn’t just gone unnoticed; as far as London was concerned it hadn’t existed at all. Tons of concrete lay between them and the city pavements, and most had spent weeks on end in cramped conditions with only Mr. Churchill for company.
It was from this top-secret citadel that the British Prime Minister directed everything from overseas manoeuvres to his famous wireless broadcasts, with a few dozen unsung heroes who operated the telephones, decoded the messages and kept mum about the lot.
To my shame I’d never visited Churchill’s War Rooms, so I leaped at the opportunity to see them at one of their after-hours late openings. They happen on a regular basis and for any excuse—this one was for the Great Man’s birthday, where you got cake and a shot of Winnie’s favorite gin (Boodles) thrown in for good measure. The warren of map rooms, telephone exchanges, corridors, meeting rooms and bedrooms, exactly as left in 1945, lacks the constant fug of cigarette smoke, low buzz of earnest conversation and edgy apprehension of a city under fire, but manages a spookiness I have only encountered elsewhere in the tunnels at Dover.

A FEW DAYS LATER I was on my way to the Royal Albert Hall (for a gig in one of their bars), when I noticed something odd. One side of the V&A Museum appeared to have been demolished. It’s a listed building—they couldn’t just have torn it down? Embarrassingly, I couldn’t quite remember what used to be there, but I was determined to be outraged.
It turns out to be fantastic. The reason I couldn’t remember what had been there was that it was a fake curtain wall. Behind it had originally been the boilers, long since defunct. More recently it had been a jumble of garbage bins and workmen’s huts. The Exhibition Road project will see it turned into a new public square, with a dedicated exhibition space underneath. Not only will it reveal some rare original frescos on walls previously only seen by the bin men, but the piazza will mean the galleries currently used for exhibitions, stunning in their own right, can be enjoyed as rooms again, instead of being blacked out.
Meanwhile, they’ve just reopened the Weston “Cast Court,” which comes from the Victorian fad for collecting superb plaster casts of major classical sculptures. Few remain nowadays, but walking round the refurbished gallery admiring “Michelangelo’s David” at close quarters, I can see this as a great place for a spot of peace and quiet when the museum gets busy in the summer.

SOMEWHERE THAT’S NEVER GOING TO GET ANY PEACE and quiet is a massive new exhibition in Greenwich. Not since Tutankhamun has there been such razzmatazz for a king at what used to be the Millennium Dome, though this one may just top Tut in the bling department. Direct from Graceland, Elvis at the O2: The Exhibition of His Life is brash, exciting and comprehensive, covering his life from romper suit to jumpsuit. I was particularly taken by the costumes. His military uniforms, some early leisurewear and the ’68 Comeback Special leathers are great, but my favorites are the series showing the development of those notorious jump suits from karate two-piece to bejewelled caped crusader. Some of the exhibits have never left Graceland before and the display will change as the months pass. My Elvis-fan friends have already bought season tickets.

Elvis is IN the building. The O2, that is. The largest Elvis exhibition ever in Europe runs at the Greenwich center through August 31, 2015.

A WALK ALONG THE THAMES PATH from the Dome lays my current favorite pub. I’ve always had a soft spot for the Cutty Sark (built in 1695 and looking like it), but this glorious barrel-fronted riverside alehouse has just got even better. Newly refurbished, it has retained and even improved its intimate feel. In the summer, drinkers spill onto tables on the riverbank across the cobbled street under old-fashioned lamp posts. In winter everyone makes for the giant bay windows looking out over the Thames, or the snug, just inside the entrance, complete with blankets for extra-cozy.
I’ve eaten there three times since it reopened and the food is exquisite. I recommend sharing a whole Camembert, baked with an entire bulb of garlic (once it’s baked the taste is sumptuous and subtle), and the thrice-cooked traditional chips are the crispest I have ever crunched. It’s my non-tourist choice for Greenwich—walk along the river, past the Old Royal Naval College, past the Trafalgar Tavern (the tourist choice), down cute little Crane Street, past the delightful Trinity Almshouses and the less delightful power station, and it will be in front of you. It’s worth booking, though, as it gets packed with locals.

HERE’S A HEADS-UP for summer. The National Trust isn’t well-represented in either London or Essex, so to have a new property in Essex just a stone’s throw from the City is a real treat. The Trust has owned the jewel-like Rainham Hall since 1949, but it was occupied by tenants and closed to the public. This secretive place, originally built deep in marshland in 1729 for a wealthy merchant, is to be fully conserved and opened permanently. I went on a hard-hat tour with a bunch of other nosy locals to see the work in progress—all dustsheets and bare lightbulbs—and fell in love with what feels like a giant doll’s house.
It’s due to open in August, a five-minute walk from a station just three stops from the City. I’ll be returning then, and I’ll let you know what it’s like. But I can already feel it in my gut—this one’s going to be worth a visit.

]]>http://britishheritage.com/churchills-lair-elvis-and-the-cutty-sark/feed/0Rambling in The Lake Districthttp://britishheritage.com/rambling-in-the-lake-district/
http://britishheritage.com/rambling-in-the-lake-district/#commentsSun, 01 Mar 2015 00:00:00 +0000http://britishheritage.com/?p=13692733Land of Poets, Peaks and Pencils The Lake District. For generations, walkers from all over the world have come to the hills and meres of northern England, for gentle hikes and strenuous hill climbs through this breathtaking landscape. It has inspired the Romantic poets and Beatrix Potter, and remains as pristine and unspoiled today. Protected [...]

Idyllic Ambleside is a destination for a Windermere cruise, or to take a boat on the lake yourself.

The Lake District. For generations, walkers from all over the world have come to the hills and meres of northern England, for gentle hikes and strenuous hill climbs through this breathtaking landscape. It has inspired the Romantic poets and Beatrix Potter, and remains as pristine and unspoiled today. Protected by the National Trust and the National Park Service, the Lakes are as justly popular as they are beautiful.

DAY 1 From Manchester to the Lakes

Rail, air or auto to Manchester makes a beginning for this exploration of England’s northwestern county of Cumbria. The M6 runs north through Lancashire. Near Kendal, take the A591
to Windermere. Either coming or going from Lakeland, you might schedule a visit to glorious Levens Hall in Kendal—home to the extraordinary topiary garden featured in our last issue (see p. 44).
The twin towns of Windermere and Bowness form the visitor capital of the Lake District. Crowds are there in evidence from April to October, and so are the hotels. Accommodation options spread out along the lake, but if you are going “in season,” do plan ahead for lodging.

You really can’t tour the Lake District by rail—but you can get there by train, and certainly experience the region. The West Coast mainline rail runs north through Lancashire on its way to Glasgow. Get off at Oxenholme, and take the small spur line into the Lakes at Windermere. From Windermere, there are a number of operators proffering a variety of day excursions around the Lakes, taking it all in.

DAY 2 Windermere

Start at water’s edge in Bowness. There, the information center provides maps, guides and brochures of all sorts. There’s no better way to begin exploring than with a cruise on Windermere, England’s largest lake. Boats follow several routes, but unless you want to spend all day on the lake, pick Ambleside as a picturesque destination.

This afternoon you might drive the short route to Wray Castle and on to Grasmere for a visit Dove Cottage, home of the great Romantic poet William Wordsworth. Graves of the infuential writer and his sister, Dorothy, lie in the village churchyard. From the shop next door, Grasmere gingerbread is famous. Or circle Windermere to Hawkshead and Near Sawrey for a visit to Beatrix Potter’s home, Hill Top. All around lies the pristine beauty of the meres, fells and quaint hamlets that make the Lakes among England’s most beloved regions.

DAY 3 Spoiled for Choice

If you have the day, there is more than enough to explore in the southern lakes. Head south along Windermere on the A592 to Lakeside. There’s a steam railroad to ride and the Lakeland Motor Museum. One option is to continue south to Ullswater, home of the Laurel & Hardy Museum, and Barrow-in-Furness, for the haunting ruins of Furness Abbey. Or turn north to Coniston Water to visit Ruskin’s Arts & Crafts home, Brantwood.

The market town of Ullswater was the birthplace of Stan Laurel.

Across the lake, ride the Victorian Steam Yacht Gondola of the National Trust. It’s an easy return to Windermere for its broad selection of dining or pubbing on the lake shore.

DAY 4 To the Northern Lakes

Distances are short enough in Cumbria to make it feasible to base your Lake District visit completely in Windermere/Bowness and make each a day trip. Or, you might take a change of scene with a stay in the quieter Northern Lakes.
Venture north this morning toward Keswick through spectacular countryside. One insider’s detour is a wellmarked turn following the back road on the far side of Thirlmere. Here it is traffic free, with plenty of turnoffs for photo ops or a walk on the shore. The market town of Keswick bustles with visitors in clement weather, center for the serious backpackers and fell walkers who tackle the rugged terrain. The pencil museum makes an unusual visit; Derwent pencils have been premium art pencils for generations. East just above the town, follow signs for Castlerigg Stone Circle, one of the most evocative and complete of the more than 600 henges dotting Britain.
Carry on along the shores of Bassenthwaite Lake to rather quaint Cockermouth, northern Cumbria’s market town on the River Derwent. There are many places to stay, most famously The Trout Hotel, next door to Wordsworth’s birthplace.

DAY 5 Adventures from Cockermouth

See the poet’s house, wander the shops or take a tour at Jennings Brewery in town this morning, or set out afield. Due northeast on the A595, Cumbria’s cathedral city of Carlisle lies about 25 miles. Carlisle’s not a particularly attractive city, but Carlisle Cathedral and Carlisle Castle make worthy visits, and have played major roles in regional and national history. To the southwest on the A595, make for the Cumbrian coast and the working port of Whitehaven, just to look around. Few visitors make their way to the west coast of Lakeland. For the sheer scenery, take the Lakes’ most famous “back roads” drive, a circuit past picturesque Buttermere, over Honister Pass and down through Borrowdale.

DAY 6 A Lancashire Return

If today marks a return south to Manchester and beyond, it is easy access to the M6 from either Cockermouth or Windermere. Time permitting, choose a visit along the way: the county town of Lancaster, for instance. Fortress, prison and Crown court: Lancaster Castle is the seat of the Duchy of Lancaster; Her Majesty holds the title. Built on the hilltop site that once held a Roman fort, the castle has played a colorful and dark role in English history.
Take a detour, perhaps, on the M55 to the famed seaside resort of Blackpool, maybe just to stroll along a portion of the 6-mile beachfront—or to go ballroom dancing at Blackpool Tower (“Ballroom Dancing,” March 2015, p. 28). From Blackpool, you can take the A574 coast road through quieter Lytham St. Anne’s to rejoin the motorway.

DAY 7 Farther Afield

If the North Country still calls, it is just a short motorway drive to the Scottish border. Visit the wedding mecca of Gretna Green, Dumfries and beyond. Or, at Kendal turn east on the A684 over the Pennines across Garsdale and into the Yorkshire Dales. Visit the Wensleydale Dairy at Hawes and King Richard III’s castle in Middleham, then route for Thirsk, Ripon or York. Some decisions are hard to make.

From the back road at Thirlemere, the fells are snow-covered this early April—while visitors bundle up in Keswick.

]]>http://britishheritage.com/rambling-in-the-lake-district/feed/0Lindum Colonia: Ecclesiastical Powerhouse and Norman Fortresshttp://britishheritage.com/lindum-colonia-ecclesiastical-powerhouse-and-norman-fortress/
http://britishheritage.com/lindum-colonia-ecclesiastical-powerhouse-and-norman-fortress/#commentsSun, 01 Mar 2015 00:00:00 +0000http://britishheritage.com/?p=13692732APPROACHING LINCOLN BY TRAIN OR ROADWAY, the towers of Lincoln cathedral can be seen for miles perched on the only hilltop across the fat Lincolnshire fens. The Romans first settled a legion here on what was an Iron Age site: Lindum Colonia. A millennium later, William the Conqueror saw the spot as perfect for building [...]

APPROACHING LINCOLN BY TRAIN OR ROADWAY, the towers of Lincoln cathedral can be seen for miles perched on the only hilltop across the fat Lincolnshire fens. The Romans first settled a legion here on what was an Iron Age site: Lindum Colonia. A millennium later, William the Conqueror saw the spot as perfect for building an imposing castle and cathedral church. Subsequently, the twin fortresses of state and church became centers of politics and wealth throughout the Middle Ages. As county town for Lincolnshire, it has remained the political and economic hub of England’s third largest county. The treasures left through centuries of rich history make Lincoln a great visit today.

Lincoln Cathedral’s massive towers were built to house soldiers for defense of the church.

Lincoln is about a three-hour drive up from London. Take the A1 from the M25 to Newark. Then, the A46 leads straight into town. It takes half the time by train from King’s cross, though you may have to change in Newark.

A Room with a View

Down by the River Witham, the “lower city” is Lincoln’s commercial center for this city of 125,000, with a large pedestrianized shopping precinct, nightlife and transportation hubs that all have a decidedly contemporary feel. The “upper city” of cathedral and castle precinct, however, is the place to stay for a couple of nights. There are a number of fine options. The 3-star White Hart Hotel is a classic hostelry just outside the cathedral close. Within the close itself, the recently-opened Old Palace Hotel offers contemporary style in the medieval Bishop’s Palace. The Lincoln Hotel on Eastgate is a modern hotel just across the street from the cathedral. get a balcony room on the front for the most exquisite views of the cathedral lit up at night.

Lincoln’s Twin World-Class Attractions

Raised over the course of 300 years, Lincoln cathedral is England’s third largest. Building began in 1088, with the round Norman arches of the west front. Then, following an 1185 earthquake the rebuilding was decidedly gothic. Its three looming towers at 271 feet were raised during the 14th century. Before the central tower’s spire toppled in the 16th century, Lincoln cathedral was the tallest building in the world for 300 years. Some 80 buildings in the cathedral close represent architectural styles through the ages. Oldest is The Vicar’s court, dating from the late 13th century.

Lincoln Castle’s new skills center nears completion.

Just across a cobbled square rise the battlements of Lincoln castle. Ordered by William the conqueror in 1068, the castle has been in continuous use ever since, changing through the centuries to meet the times. Its curtain walls enclosed an intact Victorian prison, and Lincoln’s Magistrates court sits on the grounds. British Heritage reported on the major rebuilding project at Lincoln castle (May 2013). Now, work is almost complete, with the new exhibition center for Lincoln’s copy of Magna carta (one of four surviving originals) opening in April — just in time for Magna carta’s 800 anniversary.
Between castle and cathedral, Lincoln’s Tourist Information centre (TIC) sits in castle Square. As always, the TIC provides a great resource for current events as well as street maps and brochures on Lincoln and Lincolnshire attractions. You might take a meal or liquid refreshments in the Magna carta pub across the way.

Much to See and Do in Lincoln

Leading downhill into the shopping district, quaint Steep Hill is aptly named. Apart from hiking down and back to the lower city, Lincoln is compact and easy to take in on foot. You might venture halfway down Steep Hill, however, to visit the Usher gallery and the adjacent new building housing “The collection” — Lincolnshire’s county history museum and art gallery.

Try Brown’s Pie Shop on Steep Hill.

Just around the corner from the cathedral precinct, the Museum of Lincolnshire Life (with free admission) provides a panoply of the rural county’s life over the years: from farm implements, motor vehicles, shop and domestic interiors, locally manufactured goods and the history of the Lincolnshire regiment. Among other gems, the world’s first military tanks were made in Lincoln.
Perhaps the city’s oldest feature is Newport Arch, straddling Bailgate — the only Roman arch in Britain through which traffic regularly travels.
Throughout the half dozen blocks of the upper city, dining and refreshment options abound, with traditional English pubs and dining as well as a variety of Asian and Mediterranean restaurants.

In the Vicinity

Lincolnshire is an agricultural county. To the east, the pastoral Lincolnshire Wolds leading to Louth and Skegness are a delight. To the southeast lie the fertile fens, with mile on mile of market gardens. Head for the historic port of Boston and St. Botolph’s church. Turning north, you might visit gainsborough Old Hall or the market town of Epworth, home of John and charles Wesley, and the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight at RAF Coningsby. Traveling by train, it is a short ride north to continue your adventures in York. As always, one is only spoiled for choice!